Heavy traffic congestion in city, DMP cites 3 reasons

Capital Dhaka has been embroiled in heavy traffic since Monday, the first working day after three holidays.

However, the situation has not improved on Tuesday as well.

Shajahan Shiraji, an official of a private office in the capital, started for Farmgate from the Uttara area on a motorcycle at around 9:00am on Tuesday. He first stopped near the Kaula bus stand. There was huge traffic congestion on the road from Kaula to Khilkhet.

Then again, he stopped on the Banani flyover. He was stuck there for 20 minutes. It took almost one and a half hours to reach his destination.

City dwellers have been suffering like this in almost every area of the capital since Monday. There was huge traffic on Monday, especially after the office hours.

Sharing his experience on the roads on Monday, Saiful Islam said, “I left Karwan Bazar at 4:30 pm and reached Niketon at 6.30 pm. It takes about 20 to 25 minutes on normal days.”

Shuvo Rahman, an employee at a private firm, lives in the Zigatola area in the capital. It took over three and half hours to reach Jigatola from his office in Niketon via Gulshan-1 and Mohakhali. So was the situation in almost all the areas in the city after office hours on Monday.

There is heavy traffic congestion on the streets of the capital on Tuesday as well. It took more than double the usual time today (Tuesday) to reach Karwan Bazar from Aftabnagar area, said Saddam Hossain, an employee at a private firm in the capital’s Karwan Bazar area.

He said there was severe traffic congestion at the Rampura U-loop, on the road from Rampura to the airport, the road from FDC to Sonargaon and in the Karwan Bazar area.

Saddam Said, “It took about seven to eight minutes to reach Rampura U-loop from Aftabnagar G block. But I was stuck there (Rampura U-loop) for about 10 minutes. However, there was no congestion in Hatirjheel.”

“The pressure of vehicles was high on the road from in front of the Mahanagar Project to the FDC area. Seeing the heavy traffic on this road, I took the Mayor Annisul Huq Road in the Satrasta area. However, there was severe traffic congestion on this road as well, it took me over 40 minutes to reach Karwan Bazar from there”, Saddam added.

This correspondent spoke to Munibur Rahman, additional commissioner (traffic) of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMO). He pointed out three reasons behind the heavy traffic congestion all over the city.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Munibur Rahman said, “The office hours have been reduced in Ramadan. Therefore, all people, who leave office at different times in normal times, are getting out at the same time now. Naturally, the pressure of vehicles on the roads is quite higher than the normal times."

Besides, the police official said, several roads in the city have been cut for different projects. It also causes the traffic congestion. And the third reason is the heavy traffic congestion on the roads in Gulshan and Uttara.

Usually vehicles run at a high speed on these roads. Therefore, traffic congestion on these roads affects the traffic system in the entire city.